The present invention relates to a track section, having at least one track, for a ride having at least one rail-borne vehicle, the track section being divided into a first and a second block segment. The invention further relates to a ride having least one track section of this type, and a method for traveling over such a track section.
A ride is typically understood to mean an apparatus which is used for targeted entertainment by moving passengers who are on the ride. Rides are therefore primarily employed at fairs, folk festivals, and in amusement parks and the like. However, the present invention relates only to a ride having at least one rail-borne vehicle, i.e., a roller coaster, looping coaster, whitewater course, or the like. A vehicle is to be understood here as a single vehicle or a roller coaster train.
To increase the appeal for the passengers, for customarily different track sections, these types of rides have special track elements in their track course. These track elements provide for variations for the passengers in a particular manner, for example by increased acceleration, upside-down travel, jerking changes in travel conditions, etc., and may be, for example, ascending slopes, steep drops, spirals, loops, “camel backs,” water baths, or the like.
The vehicles traveling on the track generally do not have their own drive, and instead are accelerated by various drives which are integrated into the track course. In particular when ascending slopes are to be overcome, drives are mounted in the track prior to the ascending slopes. It has proven advantageous to provide linear drives. These may in particular be linear motors, i.e., linear synchronous motors (LSMs), linear induction motors (LIMs), or linear asynchronous motors, as well as friction wheels or the like. So-called launch drives, i.e., drives which allow a particularly high acceleration power, are particularly suited as linear drives, so that the passengers have an appealing ride experience. However, drives which are able to develop not only drive power, but also braking power, are also understood as drives within the meaning of the present patent application.
For rides having rail-borne vehicles, the typically quite large extension and the often not completely foreseeable track courses frequently result in the problem that the tracks must be secured in a particular way, in particular when more than one vehicle is using the track at the same time, or when a closed track course is present. One suitable means for securing such a track or track section is division into block segments which are suitably monitored. The latter means is preferably carried out completely automatically, for example by an appropriate controller which suitably evaluates, in a manner known per se, whether vehicles and/or other obstacles are present on the track and in the track section in question.
If an obstacle such as a stopped vehicle is now determined in a block segment, the vehicles which follow are not granted enabling for entry into this block segment. Therefore, the subsequent vehicles must at least be decelerated, or possibly brought to a standstill, prior to entry into this block segment. For this purpose, appropriate safety brakes are provided in the track course before the particular block segments. The safety brakes generally act mechanically on the vehicle, and are designed as block brakes, for example. However, these types of safety brakes have the disadvantage that they must be routinely serviced, and are relatively expensive.